First observations of the freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii Lankester, 1880 in Ireland coincides with unusually high water temperatures

Dan Minchin,Damien Haberlin,David Germaine,Joe Caffrey,Thomas Doyle,Rick Boelens,Colm Walsh

doi:10.3391/bir.2016.5.2.02

Abstract

First observations of the freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii Lankester, 1880 in Ireland coincides with unusually high water temperatures

Highlights

Common reed, Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud., 1841 is a cosmopolitan, hydrophytic grass found in wetlands and estuaries throughout North America
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent of Eurasian Phragmites in the northernmost region of the Mississippi River watershed, including the Mississippi and Minnesota River corridors within Minnesota, and to establish a starting point from which to monitor the invasion of Eurasian and other non-native Phragmites subspecies into aquatic habitats in this region
Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the trnLb and rbcL cpDNA regions from these populations indicated that 11 populations (16%) were Eurasian Phragmites, while the remaining 58 populations (84%) were of native North American lineage

Summary

Introduction

Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud., 1841 (hereafter Phragmites) is a cosmopolitan, hydrophytic grass found in wetlands and estuaries throughout North America. The aggressive expansion of Phragmites populations in many North American wetlands has been noted, and has caused concern for the stability of these ecosystems (Chambers et al 1999; Galatowitsch et al 1999). Conclusive genetic evidence for this cryptic invasion of native North American haplotype Phragmites australis (hereafter native Phragmites) populations by introduced Eurasian haplotype M (hereafter Eurasian Phragmites) was reported by Saltonstall (2003a), and has since driven extensive studies of this important ecological phenomenon (Kettenring and Mock 2012; Paul et al 2010; Meyerson et al 2010; McCormick et al 2010). In 2013, Meyerson and Cronin reported evidence of an additional invasion by a second introduced haplotype (L), further complicating the history of the non-native Phragmites spread in North America

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